Notes On: How to Romanticise June
Trembling, butterfly-like
Green was the silence, wet was the light, / the month of June trembled like a butterfly —Pablo Neruda
At midnight, in the month of June, I stand beneath the mystic moon —Edgar Allan Poe
“What we have to remember is that we can still do anything. We can change our minds. We can start over” — Marina Keegan, The Opposite of Loneliness
June is for the colour blue: aquamarine, sky-blue, floating clouds above roiling seas blue, baby-soft powder-blue, and occasionally, perhaps, deep-sadness blue. June is for awakening the magic. Letting the wings of your imagination spread and tremble, your hopes drift into the warm evening air. For doing things that make you feel alive.
Aesthetically, June is Mamma Mia, and 1989 (Taylor’s Version); blue, yes, but carefree, too. With particular emphasis on the free part. The kind of freedom that lets you rid yourself of fears, of awkwardness, of those invisible chains of self-consciousness that hold you back. The kind that leaves you singing karaoke in some bar and looking stupid doing it, absolutely and completely in the moment. Uncomplicated happiness.
Of course, June is also for frozen daiquiris. And lip gloss. And tinted moisturiser. And the song ‘As It Was’ by Harry Styles. For leaving your phone at home and drinking lots of water with cucumber or lime in it and girls nights that last until three in the morning and end in declarations of love.
In fact, June is for celebrating love, in every sense of the word. Love of ice creams. Love of stories. Love of starry nights and early mornings and frothing seas and the people who make you feel like you don’t have to sparkle to be beautiful. Here’s how to make the most of it.
Notes On: Spicing Up June
As always, before we start, I hope you bought yourself a present for getting through May.
First, plan a girls night. The vibes are: girlhood. Tall candles. Pink satin bows on glasses. Cocktails, crunchy white wine. Or go to the beach with pizzas. Sit barefoot in the sand. Share fears. Find yourself giggling. It doesn’t have to be perfect, or aesthetic, or TikTok-able. It does have to fill you with love, and hope, and aspiration, and a sense of togetherness in a world which feels as though it’s tearing at its seams. In times like these, we need our girls (+ gays + theys, obviously).
This month, I challenge you to do as many starry-eyed activities as possible. What’s a starry-eyed activity, you ask? Well, that’s simple: anything that makes you feel fully alive, that fills you with a a kind of awe, or pride, or excitement of all the world has to offer. Some examples: outdoor swimming (or cinema), barbecue on the beach, a (very long) hike, wild camping. You get the picture. You get extra points if it’s something that slightly scares you, before you do it. June is for challenging anxiety. I don’t make the rules (I do).
June is also for getting off your phone. Turn it on airplane mode. Leave it at home. Invest in a digital camera and take as many grainy pictures as possible. Print them out and slide them into an album and annotate them on a rainy day.
According to the girlies who know (and I’m not one of them), SS25 is all about sunset shades, and summer plaids, and on-purpose wrinkles. Me? I’ll be using this logic for my style this month: would the Mamma Mia costume designers approve of this? If not, à la poubelle.
This month, I challenge you to eat as many berries as possible. Snack on them, at your desk. Put them in cakes and ice creams and blend them into smoothies. Also: make home-made pesto, because basil is in season, right now. Oh, and cut up some radishes as an aperitif. They work really well with butter and salt. It’s so chic, you’ll feel like you’re in Europe.
And finally, treat your life according to the fruit salad theory: it could always be made better by one tiny addition. Challenge yourself to break out of your comfort zone: make a new friend, learn how to run (or sew), start a book club, put your writing out into the world. Tell someone you love them.
Repeat after me: no one cares what I do as much as me.
It’s so easy to let these lives pass us by: for each month to slip past until suddenly it’s Christmas and we’re unhappy and we don’t quite know why.
I’ll say it again: June is for feeling alive. For embracing love, in all its forms. For exchanging friendship bracelets and sunrise mornings and for falling back in love with your life (and yourself) after a very, very long winter. Because you deserve it.
Your June Soundtrack
As you (probably) know by now, I am a firm believer that you should have a soundtrack for every single moment/emotion in your life. I’ve just made this ‘spontaneous girl summer !!!’ one for all those starry-eyed moments you’re going to have in June. It combines old-timey summer classics with 2025 bops, and I’ve already been listening to it on repeat.
Your June Reading List
I’m not sure why, exactly, but for me the summer months are for long, epic, winding tales. But I know that’s not for everyone, so I’ve included a variety here.
The Bee Sting by Paul Murray (long! epic! winding!)
Lessons by Ian McEwan (this one is very long, and relatively plot-less, but fascinating and incredibly well written)
The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors
Bluets by Maggie Nelson
All Fours by
Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson
The Girls by Emma Cline
Make It Make Sense by
and (out in hardback now!! this is a must-read for anyone who feels lost/unsure about things in their twenties/thirties I’m so obsessed)Opposite of Loneliness by Marina Keegan*
Some recipes:
One final note:
If you’re finding it hard - if you live somewhere really hot, and June feels like a punishment, or if you’re struggling to put each foot in front of the other due to grief, or anxiety, or a sense of overwhelming sadness about the state of the world, right now - know that you’re not alone. Happiness does not exist without sadness: we cannot be exhilarated and excited and extraverted, all of the time. And that’s okay.
It’s all out there, waiting for you. Tipsy kisses, charred marshmallows, fireworks, sandy toes, the words ‘I love you too’. Sparklers trailing like shooting stars, bubbles fizzing on your tongue, tearing off your sandals as you run into the ocean; that long phone call you’ve been looking forward to, the smell of suncream and pages; turning the volume up as you drive and shout-sing the phrase ‘THOSE WERE THE BEST DAYS OF MY LIFE’.
All you have to do is wait for it.
*Footnote:
If you read my work regularly, you’ll know that The Opposite of Loneliness is one of my favourite books. It’s a collection of essays and short stories by Marina Keegan, a writer with so much heart, and such a beautiful, beautiful talent with words. She died in a car crash just after graduating from Yale, and her family collated her work ready for publication. A new edition has just been published, with a new forward by R. F. Kuang, and additional materials. Scribner very kindly sent me a copy and I was (unsurprisingly) blown away by it. You can find it here.
Marina Keegan’s mum, Tracy, has just created ‘The Opposite of Loneliness Fellowship’ - which will award a young person between the ages of 15-25 a $5000.00 grant to fertilise their vision of how they plan to "make something happen to this world." Every week, I hear from readers who are incredibly bright and young and hungry to make this world a better place - so I thought some of you might like to apply for this. The deadline is the 25th June, though so get your applications in quickly.
P. S.
Paid subs!! As always, me know what you’d like me to write about for the next one. I love hearing from you.
Actually this June is 1989 original version 🍾🎉🩵
Marina Keegan ❤️